InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Bad As New."

Not Hawkeye 2, Just Hawkeye (justhawkeye) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-04-30 14:03:00

Entry tags:

kate bishop (616), natasha romanoff (mcu)

Who: Natasha & Kate
What: GIRL TALK
When: Today
Where: COFFEE
Rating: G for gushing and gossip

Kate was anxiously nervous about meeting Natasha. She had met her in passing ONCE, but she knew her more from Clint. And this Natasha wasn't even THAT Natasha, so would it be the same? Everyone seemed to at least share the same kind of personality with each other; really it just seemed the history was a bit off from what she could tell. She also wasn't paying close attention to everyone here, but maybe she should. It didn't hurt to know who your neighbors were, right? So far it seemed she knew most of them (or knew OF them), but there were a few names popping up that she hadn't recognized before. Maybe it was time for her to branch out...

But for now, she had more important things to focus on. Like the fact that Natasha Romanoff aka the Black Widow would be walking through that door, ready to have a cup of coffee with her and talk. Catch up. Find out more about each other. Cool. Kate was totally 100% ready for this, except that she wasn't. Not only was Natasha so kick-ass Kate couldn't wrap her head around it, but she was also the OG in Clint's life; she felt like this was a big moment for the two of them. Alright, maybe just herself because she doubted that Natasha was at all overthinking this meeting. Just come in, grab a cup with someone Clint said was a good person, hang out. Cool. No biggie. She could do this. After a handful of all capped text messages to America, Kate felt better. It was just coffee. And she could do coffee.

She made sure not to drink all of it before Nat arrived, but she might have had two or three cups before the infamous redhead walked into the shop and she glanced up, a nervous smile on her face. "Natasha? I mean, Nat?" She walked out from behind the counter, holding her hand out before running into one of the stools. Smooth. "Ow, uh, hi! I'm Kate!" She didn't actually make it all the way to greet her, but stopped awkwardly in the middle of the floor before looking back and nodding towards one of the tables. "I can get you a cup! Do you like anything in it? Or I can just bring you what we have...?" Right, stop talking and allow her to respond. That was how a conversation worked. She gave her an apologetic smile, taking a breath at the same time.

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Natasha | Kate :: Girl Talk

justhawkeye
2019-04-30 10:53 pm UTC (link)

Alright, this was good. Easy. She was evening smiling! That had to be a good sign, right? Breathe. Don't pour yourself another cup of coffee. This is going great. Kate stepped back around to make two cups (alright, so she lied to herself, she was totally going to have another cup), happy that she didn't have to worry about putting anything else in because she probably would have poured half their sugar content into Nat's cup because she was so discombobulated. And she wasn't going to have her first impression skewed because she made a bad cup of coffee. She'd never be able to live it down.

"Nah, I just hang out here, waiting for people to arrive." She stopped mid-pour, head tilted, thinking. "You know, now that you mention it, I haven't had more than one person in here at a time!" It was a little strange, but it also made for a convienant catch-up time. "Oh wait, that's a lie." She nodded her head, the realization coming to her as she finished getting their coffee. She walked around, handing a steaming cup to Nat. "Sometimes two people come in, but they wanna just chat and catch up with each other, so I usually just head to the back." Kate never felt like this was an actual job, just something for her to do with all the free time they had now. Plus, it helped that everyone here seemed to be a "good guy".

She glanced towards the painting and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's a thing," she said, shaking her head. "He put it up without even asking me! Rude." Not that Bucky was bad to look at, but it was a bit strange. "At least it's a conversation starter. Clint went a bit art crazy when we were all at the convention." Had Natasha heard about that?

"So you just got here. Few days ago? How're you settling in?"

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Natasha | Kate :: Girl Talk

hourglasss
2019-04-30 11:52 pm UTC (link)

There were at least ten separate questions that could have been parsed out from that, some of which related to the subject of convention? (though she assumed that was related to the doors Tony had told her about), many more of which were related to the subject of yes, but I'm still stuck on the fact that someone painted James as a centaur, I would really like someone to walk me through that thought process. But there were other, more pressing questions, so the ones about old boyfriend's heads on top of mythological creature's bodies were ones that could probably keep for awhile.

She shook her head, like she was actually physically in need of shaking the questions out of there, and turned her attention back to Kate. "Right - sorry. How am I settling in? I don't have anything to complain about. Everyone's been so nice to me that in any other circumstance, I'd be looking for the angle."

Maybe it was a little weird, that she wasn't looking for the angle. It was a lot to take on faith, but there were so many people here that she did trust, whose judgement she'd already decided was sound years ago, and if they were comfortable, if these were people they'd given their own faith to, well. She had never really been one to substitute anyone else's judgment for her own, but here in Starklandia, if A equals B and B equals C, then A must also equal C was good enough for her. It was not a bad way to live.

"Carol's letting me crash with her until I figure out something more permanent. I guess I should probably be looking for something more permanent, I don't want to crap her style forever. Older Peter's offered pizza, Jan and Gwen offered clothes, James - Bucky - is, well, that's been an unexpected bonus. And Clint." Her mouth curved up. Just a little. Just enough to say something, anyway. "Clint's got a coffee shop, and a dog, and a you. He's new, but he's - still Clint. You know? That's a lot."

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Natasha | Kate :: Girl Talk

justhawkeye
2019-05-01 01:23 am UTC (link)

Kate could practically see the questions forming in Nat's head and she grinned, taking a seat at one of the tables. She pushed another chair out for Nat with her foot, taking a sip of her coffee. Mmmm, coffee. Things were already getting better.

She looked over her cup at Natasha, taking the woman in. She wasn't as intimidating as she had built up in her head. Really, she seemed pretty easy to talk to actually. Not standoffish or curt like she had thought. Why had she thought that? America was right, Kate wasn't being herself. But it meant a lot, this meeting, and she wanted to make sure she impressed her. Or at least came off as ok. It wasn't like she'd do anything to embarrass Clint, at least not on purpose. But it could happen.

"Good. I mean, I'm glad you're settling in alright. This place was weird when we first arrived. Nothing." She made a face, shaking her head. "And then someone discovered the door, I don't even remember who." She looked up, scrunching up her face with thought, but shook her head again. It didn't matter, not really. "Anyway. Have you been through that?" That seemed like a lot to take in at once, so maybe not.

She smiled, happy to know that the whole town was chipping in to help people feel more welcomed here. It might have to do with the fact that some of them had been here before there was anything and giving the welcome they had hoped to receive instead. Or maybe they were just happy to see friends again, lost or otherwise.

But what really got Kate was her reaction as she said Clint's name. The smallest smile that tugged at her lips said a lot to Kate, but she just nodded her head. "Well, to be fair, he only had two outta the three when he got here. We made the first one happen because...well, coffee." She shrugged as Nat seemed to know what they were on about. It was good to know that she enjoyed the coffee as much as they did. That was a good mark in her book. Not that it wasn't already full, but this time it felt like a fact she could discover herself rather than hear from someone else.

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean," she agreed. "Like, the Tony's that are here? I don't know them. But their personalities match the one I know about in my own world. Maybe personalities stay the same, but the history changes?" She leaned across the table, almost reaching out to take her hands, but she resisted.

"What was Clint like in your world?"

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Natasha | Kate :: Girl Talk

hourglasss
2019-05-01 08:10 pm UTC (link)

Natasha thought about that one for a minute as she settled against the counter; this time, she stayed standing but leaned her elbows on it, her back dipping into a graceful arch. The first time she'd been here, she'd just vaulted over the top of it. She curled her fingers around the warmth of the mug, tapping them lightly against the side, because it wasn't a hard question, exactly. It was just one where she wanted to put a little consideration into her phrasing.

"Yours reminds me of mine when we first met," she said. She'd been thinking about that a lot lately; maybe that was part of why she'd responded to him so viscerally. "The thing about Clint is there's just - and I know he'd deny this if he ever heard me say it, he'd say uh, you're talking about some kind of Cap shit, Nat, that ain't me."

It was a fair approximation of his voice, and she smiled at Kate, lifting the coffee to her mouth. Black, bitter - she'd taken it this way for the last five years, but before that, she'd used to drink it with cream. Maybe she'd get back into that, if there was a possibility here. "But there's something about him that's good. You know what I mean? There's something about him that says 'here is someone you can trust, and he is not going to flip that trust around and find a way to stab you with it.' He made me want to be better - or at least, a lot of the time, he made me want to try harder. Hang on a little longer, be a little faster, extend the benefit of the doubt a little more often."

Which was the good stuff. That was the good version, that was everything she had missed. And it wasn't the whole pictures. "Anyway, that's how I remember him, when I think about it, but the last five years, they weren't very kind ones. Not for him. He lost the plot a little bit. He came unhinged, after the snap. I missed him. He could be standing right in front of me and I would wonder where they guy I knew had gone. But he was still Clint, and that was enough to count. You know how it's like that with some people?"

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